The present invention relates to sanitary covers that are secured over the earpiece and/or mouthpiece of a telephone (or a doorknob) to reduce the incidence of contamination and infection therefrom
The past 12 years has seen a dramatic increase in the incidence of infectious disease. Infectious disease is now the third leading cause of death in the United States. Just a few years ago it ranked only fifth. One factor in this dramatic increase is an increase in travel, and the resultant multiple use of telephones in public phone booths, airports, train stations, and even hotel rooms. In addition, the new global economy brings with it travel to and from the xe2x80x9cthird worldxe2x80x9d, where the traveler may not fully understand the necessary sanitary practices. Both the increase in total travel time, and trip distance, increase risk of infectious disease. Even short trips are not free of risk, as personal hygiene practices have been all but forgotten. But perhaps the greatest danger arises from our complacency regarding disease: in this age of antibiotics. In fact, the pervasiveness of antibiotics may have created new dangers.
Wide spread use of antibiotics has resulted in new xe2x80x9ckillerxe2x80x9d bacteria. These bacteria have grown resistant to most or all of our present antibiotics. This result is not unusual. All bacteria bred in the presence of antibiotics select out resistance strains, thereby increasing their resistance. Thus we find ourselves in a continuous and accelerating search for newer antibiotics and methods of protecting ourselves from the ever evolving bacteria strains.
Even hospitalization carries increased risk of infection. Hospitals are themselves the only source of certain new xe2x80x9ckillerxe2x80x9d bacteria. These bacteria were literally bred, and evolved, in hospitals. Currently, two million (2,000,000) hospital patients per year contract nosocomial infections: infections contracted in the hospital, from the hospital.
Our schools are also a hot bed of infectious diseases, especially the nurse""s office. Thus, travel, as well as hospitalization, and schooling, increase the risk of cross contamination; which greatly increases the spread of illness. This situation requires another approach to sepsis.
The eyes, ears, nose and mouth are common portals of entry for infection into the body. Telephones are brought into intimate proximity to these portals. Ever since the invention of the telephone there have been concerns about the possible spread of pathogens by multiple users of the phone. Investigations of these concerns have confirmed contamination of telephones. For example, on Jul. 2, 1999, an ABC News 20/20 Monday broadcast reported an investigation of xe2x80x9cenvironmental surfacesxe2x80x9d, such as pay phones, restaurant salt and pepper shakers and napkin dispensers, shared computer keyboards and bathroom doors. As reported, students from Wagner College in Staten Island gathered microscopic samples from environmental surfaces, cultured them onto agar plates, and identified them. In interpreting the results, ABC News correspondent Dr. Johnson stated, xe2x80x9cMany of the germs found were not dangerous, but in several places the telephone mouthpiece and keypad, the computer terminal, the bathroom door and on paper money they did find disease-producing forms of staph, which can cause anything from food poisoning to acne to boils.xe2x80x9d
In another examples Dr. Wallace reported, in the Dec. 12, 1992 edition of the Orange County Register, in Section G, page 10, that, xe2x80x9c . . . colds are usually spread by simple hand-to-hand contact with another human being or such objects as doorknobs and telephones.xe2x80x9d With the increase in the number of phones, and the increased mobility of vacationers, business travelers, commuters and the workforce in general, phones have increasingly become vectors for disease.
The vast majority of bacteria are in the size range of 1-10 microns. Many of them form chains, are in pairs, or form clumps. They may be round or rod shaped. These bacteria can be easily picked up from the environment, and may cause disease. Objects exposed to droplets from coughing, oral secretions, nasal discharges, earwax (cerumen) and pus can be contaminated, and hands contaminated therefrom. Secretions can transfer bacteria to telephones, eyes, mouths, and other objects.
Bacteria produce disease, and at times extensive disease, in normal individuals. If there is any impairment to the immune system, or another disease is present, they can produce disease more readily, and more extensively. Diabetes mellitus, chronic lung disease, chronic heart disease, such as congestive heart failure, are some examples. Chronic skin conditions such as psoriasis, or any break in the skin, can increase susceptibility to infection. Impairment of the immune system caused by drugs, such as cortisone or chemotherapy, can vastly increase the body""s predisposition to infections.
Staphylococcus is present in nasal passages, throat, sputum, droplets and hands. It is capable of producing a great many diseases or infections, including abscess, dermatitis, pneumonia, septicemia, endocarditis, gastroenterological diseases and many generalized diseases. It can be notoriously resistant to bacteria. Staphylococcus was present in cultures taken of various phones (see forward).
Bacillus can cause diarrheal disease, nausea and vomiting. It can also cause abscesses, cellulitis, endocarditis and other severe systemic disease. And, it can be transmitted from environmental objects.
Enterococus and related bacteria such as citrobacter, tatumelia, aerococcus, and enterobacter can all produce severe systemic disease. They are ubiquitous in the environment. The diseases produced by these bacteria range from gastroenterological diseases to abscess to cellulitis to endocarditis.
Pseudomonas can infect any tissue. It is also found on environmental surfaces, such as telephones and doorknobs, and can be transmitted by hand contact as well as from the oral, nasal and respiratory passages. This bacteria is the fourth (4th) most common nosocomial, i.e., hospital acquired, infection. It accounts for 10% of all such infections. These bacteria can produce pneumonia, dermatitis, generalized septicemia, dermatitis, etc. They can be spread by hand contact, sputum, and oral passages and from environmental surfaces. Sadly, they are tolerant to a wide variety of physical environments so they are very difficult to eradicate.
Stenotrophomonas is a newly described bacteria. It is generally a hospital-acquired infection. Quite serious outbreaks have developed in hospitals. It has been responsible for causing respiratory infections, wound infections and septicemia. This bacteria is resistant to many antibiotics
Mycobacterium can cause severe disease. The most common is tuberculosis. This group will produce pneumonia, abscess and generalized diseases. They can be very difficult to treat, requiring multiple antibiotics and frequently developing resistance to these antibiotics.
In addition to bacteria, head lice and phone mites may be transmitted by the use of a telephone. Not surprisingly, many efforts have been undertaken to avoid both contamination and cross-contamination from telephones. Disinfectant sprays and wipes have been used, however, most bacteria easily survive a brief exposure to disinfectants, and the broad use of disinfectants leads to resistant strains of bacteria. In addition, use of disinfectants pose the possibility of allergic reactions and if in fluid form, may actually serve as a transport medium for bacteria.
Many attempts have been made to provide a physical barrier between the user and the phone. These have involved the use of materials which may provide an impervious barrier, and hence muffle sound or distort voice transmission, or those that have perforations or are wettable, and hence can transport the bacteria from the phone to the mouth, and visa versa. Barriers are used to cover the mouth piece, the earpiece, the earpiece and mouthpiece, and sometimes the handle. When away from home, the hands are more easily washed than the face or ears, hence covers for the earpiece have real usefulness. Individually packaged towelettes, and liquid products alleged to disinfect the hands without water, are readily available. In addition, gloves may be used. Covers for the entire earpiece and mouthpiece have also been attempted, but most are too cumbersome for a traveler.
With all the various arrangements of shapes and materials in telephone covers, the basic requirements of a sanitary cover still remain unmet. To aid in asepsis it is advantageous that a cover be disposable and biodegradable. A disposable cover needs to be inexpensive, and easy to manufacture. The cover should be packaged so that it retains its aseptic condition through much joggling in the traveler""s pocket or luggage pouch. In addition, it should be possible to deploy a cover without contaminating it with dirty hands, and without the hands touching the earpiece or mouthpiece. Preferably, one should be able to deploy the cover using only one hand. If the covers are presented in a multi-pack, opening the pack and deploying one cover should not contaminate the remaining covers in the pack. The covers are preferably sound permeable but fluid impervious. Prior attempts at sanitary covers meet some of these requirements, but failed to meet others. It is important at this time to meet them all. Hence, there remains a great need for a small, inexpensive, portable sanitary cover for the telephone.
The phone covers of the present invent ion are unique. They are designed to prevent contamination, and cross-contamination, with the use of a phone (or doorknob). The covers of the present invention place a bacterial barrier material between the head, the earpiece or mouthpiece. In a preferred embodiments the cover also creates a bacterial barrier between the hands and the phone, as well as the head and the phone. The bacterial barrier filter material is preferably made of a non-woven fabric and, most preferably, of a sheet of polypropylene, biodegradable material having a filtration efficiency of 99% with an effective pore size of one (1) micron. Since the majority of bacteria fall in the size of 1-10 microns, this barrier will be extremely effective. It has proven voice transmission characteristics, as it has been used in face masks. In fact, no distortion of voice transmission takes place from the use of the covers of the present invention. They may, however, filter outs or deaden, background noises.
The covers are made in a variety of configurations, and each cover of the invention may be easily used on phones of any shape. The covers are easily applied with one hand, and come in convenient, easy to carry, packages. The covers and cover packages may be sterilized, and are designed such that their use is both aseptic and discrete. Using the constructions of the covers of the present invention, the earpiece and/or mouth niece covers may be constructed from a piece or template of sheet material of any shape. The template is provided with retaining means to permit use of the covers on phones with any shape earpiece or mouth piece. For instance, either a round or square template of material, may be used to form a cover for an earpiece or mouth piece which is either round or square, or any shape in between. It is preferred that the covers be made of fluid resistant material.
The smallest and simplest covers are the single sheet covers, which, adhesively attach to the working surface of the earpiece and mouthpiece. For obvious reasons, these covers are inappropriate for use on doorknobs. For the single sheet covers, the template needs to be simply larger than the anticipated area of the top surface of the earpiece or mouth piece, and any shape will do.
In one embodiment of the single sheet cover, adhesive is provided only along a portion of the edge of the template. With this single sheet cover it is preferred that the cover have some stiffness, so that the adhesive and the stiffness combine to ensure the entire sheet remains against the earpiece or mouth piece, i.e. that it does not fold to expose a portion of the earpiece or mouth piece. As this cover does not extend about, or contain, the earpiece or headpiece, this cover may be constructed of material, such as compressed paper or cardboard, which does not easily transmit sound, as the sound will be easily transmitted around the edge of the single sheet. The templates, or sheets, are stacked so that the edge with the adhesive portion alternates from one side to the opposite side of the stack, with each sheet. This stacking of the covers provides two advantages. First, it permits easy dispensing from the stack. Pressing the cover to the earpiece or mouthpiece initiates an adhesive bond to the cover. As most pressure sensitive adhesives have greater tack than peel adhesion, pulling the earpiece or mouthpiece away from the stack at an angle, will easily separate the top cover of the stack (attached to the handset) from the next cover in the stack. Second, alternating adhesive positions makes it especially easy to cover both ends of the hand set. As will be rioted with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9 and their accompanying description, these single sheet covers are most preferably attached such that the adhesive portion of the cover is placed at the upper end of the earpiece and the lower end of the mouth piece. After attaching the first cover to one end of the handset(the earpiece or the mouth piece) the alternating stack places the adhesive portion of the second cover in position for fastening to the other end of the handset, i.e. without having to rotate the stack.
In another embodiment of the single sheet cover, adhesive is provided in star-shaped pattern, which will engage any shape earpiece or mouthpiece. In this embodiment, the material requires no stiffness, arid, in fact, the drape in the material will facilitate adhesion about the edges of the earpiece or mouthpiece. Because the adhesive pattern is uniform, when separating the first cover (mounted to the earpiece or mouthpiece) from the remaining stack of covers, a circular motion, rather than a rocking motion, is used to achieve a peel. This may be easily accomplished if the stack is hand held. Alternatively, the circular peel may be achieved by a resilient sponge, or moldable fluid reservoir at the base of the stack of covers. Where the single sheet covers are stacked and packaged, it is possible to achieve, one hand deployment of the cover to the earpiece and mouthpiece by providing means to attach the package to a nearby surface. Much emphasis is given to the packaging and deployment of the covers, as aseptic, one-handed, deployment is vastly preferred.
A fuller cover is provided by the hat-like embodiments of the covers of the present invention. These covers use a larger template and adaptable retaining means, to create a bonnet or hat-like cover. In one hat-like design, circular or square templates of barrier material are provided with elastic retaining means attached to at least about half the perimeter of the template. When using this design, the barrier material requires considerable drape so that the elastic retaining means is able to retain the cover on the earpiece or mouthpiece. In another hat-like design, the fuller cover is constructed of a template of barrier material, pleated, and provided with flexible, resilient portions, along the outer pleat at both sides of the template, to form a stick-like shape. At either end of the stick, the pleats and the flexible, resilient portions are firmly secured, as with a staple, plastic or otherwise. Alternatively, the ends may be secured by heat welding. When the two ends of the stick are pressed toward each other the flexible resilient portion flexes to expand the pleats. In this condition the cover may be disposed about the end of the earpiece or mouthpiece. When the pressure on the ends of the stick is released, the flexible resilient portions straighten, closing, and securing the cover by tension, on the earpiece or mouthpiece. Further securement may be achieved by a nonstick coating, such as a series or pattern of rubber dots, on the inside surface of the resilient portions.
Another fuller, hat-like cover is achieved with a circle of pleats, creating a cover, which looks much like a chef""s hat, or inverted paper cup. This pleated cover, however, does not have a hat brim or cup lip. The pleated cover is retained on the earpiece and mouthpiece by a twisting motion of the hand, which individually shapes the cover to the earpiece or mouthpiece. This requires that the material of the template and its pleats be easily moldable and not resilient. The twisting action creates a line of retaining means comprising newly-angled pleats. A brim or lid would work against the formation of such retaining means. These covers are easily stackable and designed for easy and safe disposal.
Another embodiment of the present invention is the complete sanitary cover. This cover is recommended for hospitals and other medical facilities, and is preferably sterilized. This complete sanitary cover has a handle portion for making a handle grip, and a wrap portion for deployment along the handle, over the earpiece, and down across the mouth piece. The wrap portion is fastened to the phone by an adhesive tab at the end of the wrap portion. The handle portion and wrap may be made of two templates of different materials, the wrap joined at right angles to the handle portion. Alternatively the same material made be used for both templates, with stiffening provided in the handle portion. The present invention offers an inexpensive complete cover that can be deployed with one hand, without ever directly touching the telephone.
By using our specially designed, easy-to-store and-apply, sanitary phone covers, the user helps prevent the passing of germs from telephone handsets, public and private, to the users mouth ears, nose and eyes. In addition, perhaps serendipitously, the covers of the present invention filter out background noise, making the telephone conversation clearer, to both the speaker and the listener. Also, there is no degradation of the voice transmission when using the covers of the present invention.